WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Cutting the cost of textbooks is Purdue University President Mitch Daniels’ latest initiative in his Purdue Moves program aimed at making higher education more affordable and accessible.

Daniels on Wednesday announced a partnership between Purdue and Amazon in which students can save up to 30 percent on new textbooks, and more on used textbooks and rentals.

“The cost actually has been going up even faster than tuition,” he said. “It seemed there ought to be new options that we could find, and we’re really thrilled about the product that Amazon has put together.”

The Purdue Student Store on Amazon could save students a couple of hundred dollars in addition to Purdue’s three-year tuition freeze and 10 percent cut to room and board fees, he said.

Competition with local textbook retailers will be good for Purdue students, Daniels said.

But online competition has been driving down book prices for several years, countered Tom Frey, owner of University Book Store in West Lafayette.

“We’ve had for three years a comparison shopping tool on our website that shows our price, and all the digital prices,” Frey said. “We’ve been very transparent, and we’ve been at market price the past four years.

“It should be noted student spending on course materials this past academic year at four-year public institutions like Purdue ... averaged $642, which is significantly below the $1,210 Purdue budgets for books and supplies,” said Laura Massie, NACS spokeswoman.

Frey said Purdue should have addressed the biggest issue that inflates book prices from his perspective, having the university provide its list of textbooks to vendors 60 days before classes start, as required by the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act.

Ordering books on short notice drives up the cost, Frey said. He said he received Purdue’s book list on Wednesday, and was scrambling to get books in stock before classes begin Aug. 25.

The move will have minimal impact on Vons Shops, which sells few textbooks, said owner Jon VonErdsmanndorf.

He said he respected Purdue’s efforts to save students some money. But he doesn’t have much love for Amazon’s tactics in a dispute over e-book pricing with publisher Hachette.

“More than half of some author’s earnings have disappeared because of Amazon flexing their marketing muscle,” he said. “... This type of monopolistic power disturbs us, and as other institutions connect with them, that can be of even more concern.”

Frey said he was notified of the Purdue-Amazon deal on Tuesday, and questioned whether the partnership was put out for bid.

A bidding process was not required in this case, said Purdue spokeswoman Liz Evans. “Purdue as a state educational institution has the authority to enter into contracts, like this one with Amazon, that are consistent with its mission,” Evans said.

Amazon is expected to open facilities in the Purdue Memorial Union and the Krach Leadership Center on Third Street early next year.

Students will be able to place orders through their online accounts, receive free one-day shipping and pick up their items at those facilities, Daniels said.

Amazon will return some of the profits to Purdue.

The university will receive 2.5 percent back on most purchases shipped to the area that are made by customers who have activated the co-branded shopping experience, and 0.5 percent on purchases shipped elsewhere, Evans said.

“It (revenue) will be somewhere in the six figures depending on the volume of what is purchased by our students,” Daniels said. “Any dollars that come back will go straight into scholarships, and that goes toward affordability.”

Amazon pays higher prices to students who sell books after they complete a course, and Amazon will hire some Purdue students, he said.

Daniels’ message hit a bull’s-eye with students, and Jeff Calvin, a potential Purdue parent who was checking out the university’s engineering program with his son.